This kitchen, designed by architect Kurt Worthington and interior designer Susan Diana Harris, welcomes guests of all ages.

Gone are the days when a hostess toiled alone behind closed doors, missing the best jokes while everyone else sat stiffly at a formal dining table in a different room. Today, guests want to mix and mingle with their hosts near the cooking -- and hosts favor kitchens in which the preparation and prep feels like work and more like a party, too.

Designer Nancy Blandford, CMKBD, ASID tv setup service . predicts this kitchen "party central." Designed about two support columns, the big U-shaped island can be approached -- and used -- out of either side. One side is for seats, while another serves as the bar, and the other four sides are for supper prep and serving. "This is the first time that I made a U-shaped island," Blandford states, "and I'm amazed at how well it works for entertaining."

To get a cook who enjoys company but favors a little elbow room in a party, Sheila Tilander, CKD, CBD, made a kitchen that offers the hosts (or chefs for catered events) plenty of space for food prep and cleanup while guests gather in the living space. Guests may rest elbows and drinks on the extended curved counter tops, or collect around the staircase, in the dining table or in the family room.

Entertaining on a big scale demands lots of platters, trays and glassware that has to be handy for events but out of the way for everyday meal prep. In this kitchen with designer Keira Burgess, ceiling-height cabinets offer lots of storage for entertaining essentials. Everything's right from the kitchen, protected from dust and dirt -- but from the way of everyday family cooking. White cabinets onto the rear wall, and almost white Ceasarstone counters keep the room bright, while the dark-stained wood island and far china cabinet wall include a warm, inviting setting.

When a kitchen opens to a living/dining place as stylish as the one in this New York City apartment by Andrew Suvalsky, form and function are equally important. The very long countertop Suvalsky made for your space finishes at a wedge-shaped, wood-paneled cabinet that keeps it integrated with all the kitchen whilst also inviting visitors to stand round the "wedge" as you would in a restaurant or bar. "The substances, lines, colors and tones of the kitchen are slick and complicated," Suvalsky says, "so that the kitchen combines with the apartment, rather than separating itself from the appearance of the living/dining location."

To create a sense of openness with this apartment kitchen, designer Andrew Suvalsky repeated the wood tones utilized elsewhere in the apartment, punctuating them with acid-etched mirrors and grey marble. Low-back stools ensure the countertop's strong horizontal line is not disrupted, and that the distance stays open and sleek.

In spite of the design challenges open kitchens gift, "they offer a great deal of advantages for entertaining," says Noa Santos of Homepolish, "because the cooking/dining experience is not compartmentalized." Inside this kitchen -- kept open to make the apartment feel bigger -- wooden barstools lend a warmth to the otherwise glossy surfaces and geometric hard lines.

The owners of this kitchen by Natalia Pierce, AKBD, Ottawa chapter representative for the National Kitchen & Bath Association, wanted an open area where guests may collect to enjoy fine wines and cocktail parties. The long, curved copper sink Pierce installed is the ideal depth to fill with ice for frightening favored drinks. The kitchen, with two individual islands in which guests can imbibe and socialize, additionally includes both a wine fridge and a cooler to get soft beverages.

The kitchen in this Oregon vineyard estate home turns into a public dining room on weekends. To allow for privacy when wanted, and openness when needed, designer Linda Evans, CKD, set up a drop-down display used during "wine tasting" hours to partition off the kitchen. When the homeowners want a more open flow between the kitchen and dining/tasting bars, the screen retracts into the ceiling, a fantastic idea for any dwelling with a open kitchen that's sometimes better left unseen.

This kitchen with Nathalie Tremblay won first place at the large kitchen category at NKBA Ontario Design Awards 2013, and it's no wonder: The elegant layout features different work zones such as cooking, food preparation, storage and cleaning, and the aisles are extra wide for simple traffic flow. Unused space beneath the staircase was enclosed with glass panels transformed into storage for up to 180 bottles of wine.

Designer Nathalie Tremblay comprised counters of varying heights to maximize prep and dining choices within this fantastic entertaining kitchen. A TV that retracts into one of the countertops allows the homeowner to catch a show while dining solo or searching for a celebration, and may be used to entertain guests with a large sporting event or even a "dinner and a movie" experience. For parties where the TV is an unwelcome distraction, the screen disappears at the touch of a button.

That same type of "now-you-see-it-now-you-don't" versatility makes this kitchen by Pat Ives, CKD, a cook's dream. The large eat-in space includes a Wolf microwave drawer, a massive prep sink and 2 remote-controlled appliance garages.

To offer extra counter space for serving large parties, the appliance garages in this kitchen retract in the granite counter to become part of the dining/prep area which also contains a drop-in knife block and trash pullout. Layout by Pat Ives, CKD

To make this little apartment kitchen more party friendly, designer Solange Boice, CKD, used every inch of storage area potential and made work surfaces in unexpected places, including this pullout counter next to the oven, which can be used to cool meals or as an excess buffet surface. "Allowing guests to participate in this activity, serving themselves or staying near enough that they can help if needed, makes the house more inviting and the celebration more fun," says Boice.

This kitchen, designed by architect Kurt Worthington and interior designer Susan Diana Harris, welcomes guests of all ages. Kids have room to wander (or operate) round on the open floor, while adults gather around the staircase or in a custom teak table (not shown). The U-shaped counters offer plenty of surfaces for gifts, food and wine, while the counter-height island allows for buffets plus a dining or cocktail area. Layers of pendant lighting and lively ceiling peaks create the perfect ambiance for pretty much any occasion.

The home's owners like their celebrations big, and they like 'em boisterous. To accommodate the merriment, Synergy Design & Construction removed a sizable portion of an exterior brick wall to show a sweeping view of your garden. This enabled the designers to re-orient the management of this island, providing simple traffic flow from the adjacent dining area. An eight-burner cooker provides lots of cook area as a warming drawer keeps food hot and ready.

With five kids of their own and as many as 75 guests of all ages over a typical weekend, the homeowners wanted a kid-friendly celebration kitchen -- and they got it, thanks to plenty of crowd-pleasing features included by designer Angela Cherry Courtalis. A mini refrigerator, convenient to guests of all heights, stores individual beverages so tiny guests do not need to wrestle with two-liter bottles or spill sticky soda all over the floors and counters. A wellness TV is high enough over the fridge that soccer fans can view every play, even when someone is grabbing a different drink.

Even kids have no excuse for leaving out their garbage after ingestion, thanks to this handy open-top trash compartment. A hidden surface on a track below the counter slides out to cover the opening for additional prep space when needed. Design by Angela Cherry Courtalis

Sometimes what is outside the kitchen is nearly as important as what is inside. Within this sinuous kitchen, the lake views are a highlight of any gathering. To take whole advantage of this vistas day and nighttime, designers Tim Scott and Erica Westeroth, CKD, NCIDQ, of XTC Design, installed layers of illumination, such as pendants, pot lights and recessed lighting at the base cabinets' toe kick. The room's overall design is spacious, but not entirely exposed to any mess created in the kitchen during cooking.

Massive windows around the perimeter of the efficient two-island kitchen by Linda Evans, CKD, also make it a pleasant place to prepare for a celebration -- and a lovely place for mingling too. The round red standing bar is a focal point and conversation piece for guests while added pops of red through the room add drama and interest.

A peninsula adjacent to the terrace doors makes indoor/outdoor entertaining a snap in this kitchen by Ryan Christenson of Remodel Works Bath and Kitchen. The counter area can be applied as a buffet or as somewhere to maintain burgers out of sunlight before they go on the grill. White cabinets maintain this kitchen bright and bright while watery green subway tile provides a splash of color.

Designer Linda Evans, CKD, knocked out several walls and installed big French doors to the back deck to provide this narrow townhouse kitchen a better flow for entertaining. During celebrations, guests can sit in the living room in the front of the home, mingle at one of two pubs at the kitchen, "or," Evans says "be halted in their way outdoors and asked by the cook to carry out something out into the deck." Hmmm? Two bars, a rear deck and a feeling where everybody pitches in? Sounds like our kind of party!